local jurisdiction cost | Fight The Plastic Bag Ban

Bag Bans are the wrong solution to control litter from plastic grocery bags. Many communities are driven to ban these bags because they are a very visible form of litter. But is banning these bags the right solution? I don’t think so, and neither should you!

Plastic bags of all kinds make up only about 0.6% of litter. So a ban on plastic grocery bags would at most eliminate no more than 0.6% of litter. The other 99.4% is still out there waiting to be cleaned up!

All carryout bags have a negative environmental impact. Paper bags and reusable bags have a higher negative environmental impact and larger carbon footprint than plastic bags. In fact, 10 out of 14 environmental indicators go up after a bag ban is implemented, meaning a bag ban is a bad idea from an environmental perspective.

For more information see: Bag Bans Wrong Way To Control Litter.